Join me in a trip down (recent) Memory Lane. I am savoring my memories of our diocesan convention just past. I remember well how often we laughed, and how sacred the hum of fellowship felt during our breaks and gathering moments (it’s probably a good sign when I have trouble calling people back into convention business because they are enjoying one another’s company so much...). I recall how we spoke freely of divergent opinions, and how we worked to clarify those points which didn’t come out clearly the first time. I felt the passionate dedication so apparent in the words of many people who spoke in reference to tough decisions which occasioned no small amount of wrestling.

I cherish deeply my visual image of those who came right over to the table where delegates from St. Thomas’ in Winn were seated, after members of that congregation spoke of the hardships they would experience if the recommended increase for supply clergy services was adopted. The question from the visitors to those seated at St. Thomas’ table was, "How can we help you?" Long before we might ever think of agreeing to the premise that we are One Body, we are living that truth in our care for others. We discover that we are one Body as we find ourselves reaching out to one another.

With all those in attendance at the Convention Eucharist at St. Luke’s Cathedral, I give heartfelt thanks for the preaching of The Rt. Rev. James Moodey, retired Bishop of Ohio, who served our diocese during the two years between the ministry of the seventh and eighth Bishops of Maine. Now a year-round resident of Maine, Bishop Moodey and his wife Penny graced our convention with their presence. In his sermon at the Eucharist, Bishop Moodey reminded us that we live in "in between" times; the time between the first coming of Christ and the Second Coming...between the "already" of Christ’s first coming in the Nativity we will soon celebrate and the "not yet" of Christ’s coming once more to fulfill all hope, all joy, all human yearning.

It is that Second Coming of Christ, that wondrous future consummation, which we ponder and proclaim during each Advent. What is this Second Coming really about? Is it a guessing game which people who love to look into crystal balls keep trying to pin down as to date, time and place? Is it a tactic used by those who seek to intimidate others, reminding them that Christ will come to "catch" them doing something wrong? Is it a deeply theological concept which bespeaks God’s utter sovereignty over all time, all history...every moment? Or is it instead a mystery which we cannot sufficiently comprehend because our imaginations are human (and therefore limited, finite, and partial). In all of these questions, what we do know is that God works in time, in the unfolding of our history and in every step on our journeys. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. There it all is: past, present and future. That great leader, Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjold, said it this way: "For all that has been...Thanks. For all that will be...Yes". Come, Lord Jesus.

Our convention’s theme was "God’s Time." We chose that theme to acknowledge the special quality of a millennial year, and also to proclaim that our life together in Maine is a faith journey, unfolded in God’s time. Our life together is, I believe, a story of conversion — the relentless movement of the Spirit within us individually and jointly, leading us to surrender ever more to Christ as our Lord and Savior. Conversion is often a slow and subtle process, although it may at times be shaped into dramatic moments of profound transformation, moments when we know and feel a powerful change in ourselves. Moments when our fear turns into courage, our resentments turn into forgiveness, and our greed turns into generosity.

We don’t "get converted" by trying harder, or by learning the right spiritual words to say, or by engaging in certain spiritual practices. It’s quite the other way ‘round: we try harder because we are new people, we speak of spiritual matters because we have been given a new voice, we take our spiritual disciplines seriously because we have been captured by the example of Christ himself, whose every word and deed emerged from intimacy with the One he called Abba. You see, conversion is something God does within us, through the grace of Christ and in the power of the Spirit. And God is working conversion within us; within each of us as we spend our days in this mortal life, and in all of us together in the faith community called the Diocese of Maine.